Free Republic

JIMMY CARTER’S RECENT TRIP to Cuba has brought attention to a courageous undertaking called the Varela Project.Named after the anti-slavery Cuban priest Felix Varela (1788-1853), the Varela Project is a petition that calls for Cuba’s emancipation from totalitarianism. Its specific objective is a referendum on freedom of speech and assembly, the release of political prisoners, free elections, and the establishment of free enterprise.One dissident organization comments on what the Varela Project has faced from Fidel Castro’s regime: "Like a wild beast, the entire specialized police apparatus has attacked the Varela Project in a repressive process that includes detentions, searches, coercion,...

HAVANA, May 10, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Activists delivered more than 11,200 signatures to Cuba's National Assembly on Friday, demanding a referendum for broad changes in Cuba's socialist system less than 48 hours before a visit by former President Carter. Known as Project Varela, the signature-gathering campaign is seen as the biggest homegrown, nonviolent campaign to force reforms in the government established by Fidel Castro 43 years ago. The petitions propose a referendum that would ask voters if they favor civil liberties like free speech, an amnesty for political prisoners, the right to start their own businesses....